It's not surprising that, only 20 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa should be consumed by the question of race. But the publication of a provocative letter to white South Africans at the start of the year turned the heat up on the conversation, provoking passionate responses from all side. Here are some of the highlights:

"I have decided to start the new year with a letter to you all. It is a letter that implores you to wake up and smell Africa with a fresh white nose.

"I call on white people to reflect on what it means to be born into unearned privilege, to excavate our long history of racist exploitation and assumed superiority – to acknowledge that this is what we were taught and then to reject it wholly... I call on white people to acknowledge that whiteness has become invisible to us and we no longer recognise it for a discourse that perpetuates the dehumanisation of black people in ways so subtle that they appear...

"White people please just shut up for once and listen. Not everything is about white people being accused of racism. Sometimes it is about the black middle class and whether or not they have adopted vile white practices...

"I implore you, white people, to listen to black voices calmly and not to react defensively to every outrage a black voice presents."

The letter received a heated response, from the relatively benign: "I would have loved this letter if it didn't sound so arrogant and preaching. Is your 2013 new year's resolution to be sanctimonious and arrogant? Because your holier-than-thou attitude is really tiresome" to the less so: "The situation in South Africa is very complicated due to the 'white man' always trying to co-exist with the natives in harmony. If the 'white man' just killed the majority of the natives (as in other countries) then it would not be complicated at all."

"Each paragraph spoke to and against so many of the enraging experiences I had suffered at the hands of whiteness and would continue to with every encounter...

"In one letter, Schutte had managed to elicit more response than what I had and could in a lifetime of feeling, speaking and pleading. She was seen. Her point heard. She caused an outcry. And just hurt white people's feelings with her tone. She hurt white people's feelings. Because this is what mattered? Their feelings?"

"Vile white practices. What are these? She does not elaborate and, since at no point does she indicate she has any sense of humour when it comes to this topic, I assume that this reference is not ironic. (Irony being a vile white practice).

"So I've taken it upon myself to speculate on what vile white practices would be, particularly vile white practices adopted by the black middle class.

"Pet ownership, obviously. Caring in a deep and meaningful way about rugby and cricket? Irony, posting photos of your meals to Instagram and other accoutrements of hipster subculture? Wine snobbery? Getting sensitive about personal space in queues? Eating organic? Vegetarianism? (Even more un-African than pet ownership.) Swimming lessons for your kids? Correcting other people's spelling and pronunciation of English words? Employing maids and gardeners (but calling them "helpers")?

"An obvious problem with speculation of this kind is the fact that it fails to take into account class differences; the whiteness symbolised by thatch lapas and klinker brick bungalows is very different to the whiteness symbolised by yoga and low-GI bread. Unless the writer is more specific about the role of class in vile white practices, it is difficult to say with any degree of certainty what such things may entail."

"I was most perplexed to read fellow Thought Leader Sarah Britten's "What are vile white practices?" written in response to Gillian Schutte's "Dear White People". Let me begin by pointing out that Britten was correct to say Schutte showed no sense of humour in the post. As a person who has actually experienced racism, there is absolutely nothing funny about it and the endless black bashings we regularly come across.

"So to answer Britten's question about what vile white practices are, please find a few here: To naively believe that more than 350 years of oppression can be undone in less than two decades ... The sudden case of colour-blindness so many claim to have developed... Calling affirmative action reverse racism when in fact it should shame the white community that we live in a country where the majority of its citizens need affirmative action to ensure they access certain opportunities.

"The post itself was a vile white practice. It fulfilled what all vile white practices aim to do – trivialise black experience.

"Why has this letter caused so much noise and excitement in the black community? Therein lays the fundamental damage in the minds of black people. So unprepared and unwilling to fight their own battles, black people will celebrate any white person that purports to be doing or saying things on their behalf. Two phenomena are at play here: fear and misguided admiration. Black people fear white supremacy so much they would rather self-censor in order to remain in the good books of white people in general."

"Instead of interrogating the validity of the social issues raised by Schutte, the bigots chose to defend atrocious white behaviour and attitudes towards indigenous Africans while creating distractions that deviate from engaging with the core issues. This they do by innuendos and threats, and by questioning Schutte's legitimacy to speak her truth; to recognise whiteness, to openly point out and criticise such inhumane patterns that violate human rights and dignity.

"But this is nothing new when it comes to whiteness responding to its own pathology. What we also witnessed was that they were not alone in questioning Schutte's legitimacy; by their sides, a collective of co-opted black South Africans – including so-called "born-free" blacks – made similar accusations. By association they then get pulled into this apartheid-styled tactic that racists use to prevent people from engaging in a genuine social dialogue that can help South Africa address the power dynamics of racism and social inequalities. Indignant whining about the content of the letter and its implications served to circumvent any meaningful debate around entrenched white supremacy and its impact on the black collective."

"[In America] anti-racism by whites became exposed as sophisticated racism. The only solution was the expulsion of whites from black affairs. This is a major test, because white anti-racism activities will have to take Malcolm X's injunction that the best help that whites can give blacks is to do 'nothing'.

"Some black supporters of Schutte have distorted Steve Biko's injunction that whites who want to help blacks must work among their own community. But this couldn't possibly mean rescuing whiteness under the guise of working against it. Schutte's biggest sin is the distortion of what racism is: she reduces it to personal misunderstanding and mere bad orientation that can be cured by changed behaviour and admission of guilt."

"The argument raised by Mngxitama and Nkopo is defeatist and senseless. Firstly by claiming that white racism cannot be unlearned, the two 'activists' are submerging black people in a state of defeatism...

"In the same way as blacks must first recognise their oppression in order to fight it, whites too must recognise that they are oppressive. And it must be them who come to that realisation, without the aid of black people, which is why Schutte's letter is so important."

Follow the ongoing debate on the South African Mail & Guardian's Thought Leader site